The present invention relates generally to analysis of data generated by expression arrays, and more particularly to classification of leukemia based on expression profiles obtained from expression arrays.
Bioinformatics plays an important role in biomedical research. For example, analysis of data from oligonucleotide microarrays can lead to the detection of differential RNA expression and genotypes or mutations in DNA. An expression profile that indicates what genes are expressed during certain disease conditions provides a signature for diseases. For diseases such as Leukemia it is desirable to determine the causes and categorize the type of Leukemia from which a patient may be suffering. There are generally many causes of Leukemia, and it is desirable to accurately classify the type of Leukemia and provide an accurate diagnosis so that the appropriate treatment may be applied. One current method for classifying Leukemia involves a cytologist visually inspecting a patient sample subjected to biological analysis. Such a method is time consuming and may produce different results if examined by different specialists. Additionally, because different types of Leukemia respond to different treatments, if the wrong classification is made, an ineffective treatment may be applied, thereby wasting time that could otherwise be used for applying a more effective treatment.
Therefore it is desirable to provide systems and methods that overcome the above and other problems. In particular, it is desirable to provide systems and methods that automatically and accurately classify diseases based on expression profile data.